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My name is Anthony Simmons my birthday is May 12, 1988. I am currently in the Youth Development Major at Rhode Island College. I work at Swansea Total Fitness in Swansea Massachusetts. I have been working with the Total Fitness Clubs since November of 2012. I have some great ideas to utilize what I will accomplish with Youth Development including a group exercise for adolescence in the community of Swansea. If you have any question or would like to learn more follow my blog and leave a comment!

Thursday, October 3, 2013

YIA and the service we as Youth Development Educators strive for!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAeb5jV1O2w&feature=player_detailpage Youth struggle to be heard. We as YDW need to give them a voice of their own. Teaching youth how to advocate and promote their ideas that get lost in the shuffle. YIA does just that for youth. Their non-profit is run by a group of youth and a board that controls the financial base of the organization. People have the misinformed notion that experience and knowledge is gained by age. When in fact great ideas just need others willing to help you execute the task. Fifteen years of youth educating youth. In the non-profit courses we have learned that non-profits struggle to stay afloat. YIA is run by youth half the age of most members of non-profit organizations. I believe we need to learn more from our youth by learning more about YIA. Youth in Action has developed youth ideas and made them a reality. Youth get to advocate for themselves and open the floor with their own personal opinions. Marlie Chatelain age 17 YIA class of 2012 says that “I like that I’m part of a place where there are so many different opinions. The trust, respect, and openness make us stronger.” Miss Chatelain is gaining experience that most people don’t gain till college and most people don’t get the privilege to gain that experience. Reading the experiences that these great people have gained by having a great resource like YIA. This makes it easier to be an YDW. It gives a fire that people lack about their work. Knowing that positive youth influence can create a critical development environment while also alleviating the risks of young teens in this every changing society. YIA makes life as youth easier because you gain the responsibilities, encouragement and resources that many youth need to grow, develop and strive. Thank you Youth in Action for giving Providence and abroad the opportunity to learn from you and everything the organization has achieved. The first video Youth's View, Voice and Vision in Society is about the education process and development through skill building and strategic plan development. Youth get the opportunity to take leadership roles to help in their own education process. I used this video to help build off of the YIA mission. They are not the only ones striving to innovate education and help change youth's educational development. I followed with a second video of Michael Jackson's We are the World to show that diversity is every where and that is truly what being a YDW is all about. We want youth to gain experience, motivation and critical free thinking. We are going to change education because we are taking the standardized testing and creating an environment that teaches the youth in a way public schools have not. The Youth Development Majors of Rhode Island College's Class of 2014 following will change the way youth is seen and create a new stigma of great knowledge and learning!

5 comments:

  1. Anthony, you make some valid points here. Through the programs led by Youth Development leaders young people are able to have the ability to think critically on topics and issues beyond their own lives. I talked about this in my own blog. Often young people are only concerned with themselves, and their own social life. There is a whole big world out there though, and it is important that we make people aware of what is out there.

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  2. Anthony, the most poignant line in this post for me is "People have the misinformed notion that experience and knowledge is gained by age. When in fact great ideas just need others willing to help you execute the task." There is such truth to that statement and it speaks volumes. It really resonated with me as it summed up the need of the youth's voice so well.

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  3. Hey Man! I always enjoy looking at your blogs because you make very vaild ideas! We as Youth Development major should be helping our youth! We are all people no matter what they age, and I think adults forget that sometimes. People need to help people, even youth. :)

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  4. This statement resonated with me: "I believe we need to learn more from our youth" This makes me think about flipping the role of an educator -- are you a teacher or are you a learner (or both and when?). The idea of educators as learners and youth as teachers/educators is so very powerful!

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  5. I love what you said about youth development professionals teaching students in a way that schools have not. Schools focus on testing, while youth development focuses on becoming a life long learner.

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